Arizona weekly citizen., 1887-07-09
MARKET OF MEXICO.
SUNDAY MORNING ON THE HIGH WAYS LEADING TO THE CITY.

WAYS LEADING TO THE cITY.
 vhe Gathering at the Market Place
 What May be Bought There-The Eas. ing stands-Lepers and Beggars-vs- rious Strange sights.
 Sunday in place of being a day of rest
 Is the chief working day in the week in all the markets of the republic Indeed
 it IS said that the beasts of burden know when Sunday comes by the extra amount
 of work required of them. Then it is the
 haciendsdO starts his droves and brings
 bis various products from the distant
 ranches so as to reach the Sunday market.
 The scene on Sunday morning on the
 highways leading into the city is enliven-
 ing.
 Hundreds of pack mules and burros,
 loaded with hay, corn, wood, charcoal and
 butchers supplies are hurried on by the
 peOn muleterOs. There are long trains of
 cumbersome, two wheeled carts fitted with
 yats for pulque and others with goat skins
 Of pulqUe. The rancherO Is bringing up
 the Tear. He is mounted on a fine horse
 and carries a lnSso, sword and pistol by
 his side, and usually wears pair of fancy
 leather pantalOOns with couple of rows of silver buckles on the seam from the
 pockets to the shoe tops. Then along the pathway on either side of the road we see
 many Indians and inestiZos, or half
 breeds, hurrying on in jog trot under
 loads of fruit, vegetables, earthenware. oullrush mats, baskets of eggs, butter, claDber cheese and cOOPs of chickens, etc
 Others are leading haltered pigs, lambs, goats and cows The women are usually shOeless and hatless, and in addition to their burden of produce most of them carry baby on top of the load. Whole families plOd on in this style for fifty or seyenty-tive miles with a load of produce that will not sell for more than 6 or $4, most of which they will spend for pulque and meScal before they leave the city, yet they will return home after a weeks trip just as happy as if they had laid up the whole amount for old age.
 SIGHTS IN THE MARKETS.
 The articles seen ir the market will here give as they were written down dur. Ing recent Sunday morning visit. One department is under cover and is filled with assorted fruits, including oranges, lemons, Hines, pineapples, pears, peaches, plums, bananas, quinces, alligator pears, cocoanuts and many other tropical fruits, most of which, owing to the high market tax and costly transportation, sell at about New York prices. The streets and side walks in the vicinity are lined with men, women and children, who are seated on the ground surrounded by their market products, which include, beside the Crdi- nary vegetable market products, parrots, pigeons, unweaned puppies, game chick anG lnvrahz h,IF Then there are heaps of old iron, bird | cages, cheap calico, brass jewelry, boiled corn, potatoes, stewed pumpkins, beans, pepper, cooked and raw pigs feet, sheep heads, hearts, lights and entrails. There are also flints and finder for starting freq metal mounted stone for grinding corn, | roots, bark and medical herbs and dye | woods.
 Close by we see fried shrimps and grass hoppers; each are cooked whole and eaten | 70. The latter are about the size of our | common graSshOpper. but are entirely | red. but as to looks l would just as soon try to go the common hopper of the north Besides these the natives gather the eggs of the swamp fly and boil them into paste and eat them with salt, chill I pepper and tortillas. The fly and it's | eggs are each sold in the market. The | former is somewhat smaller than the | house fly, while the eggs are about the | size and color of a hay seed. In fact | everything is eaten here that the human | stomach will digest or anything that is capable of being converted into soup.
 A MOTLEY MIXTURE.
 Passing on we see women selling flow CTS, incense, gum, cane and corn stalks, cigarettes, cigar stumps, pulque, stale bread. bullrush mats, second hand combs, and tooth brushes, Aztec images of gods, sacred images and pictures. hot soup, ice | cream, toy collins, candy skulls, prayer | books. wax images, hairless bluish poodle | dogs, cakes made for the dead, also others trade in the form of the crucifix, the Virgin, saints and angels.
 Among this motley mixture there are to b. seen babies half naked and babies com pletely naked running ct large. In fact entire families of Mexican citi- zens come and spend ak day in the mar ket place. This is their home and they usually bring all their domestic animals along The market presents a continued babble, as every vender keeps up a con- stant cry, which he gives in Spanish and sometimes in the Aztec or native Indian dialect, the kind, quality and price of all he has to sell
 Each stand has a pole abOut eight feet high, upon the top of which there is flat framework covered with a bullrush mat. This Is the only protection from sun and rain. and under such shelter we find the hash and soup stands. In these popular eating stands every article of food that will not scald or burn is dished out by hand; for other things they use large wooden and brass spoons. While not otherwise engaged these women are hunt Ing fleas among their poodle dogs and puppies and combing the children's heads fer what they seldom fail to find.
 Then there are scores of lepers and beg yars sleeping and lounging about gather Ing the verInin from their filthy rags. Some of them are playing lame while others are covered with sores which they exhibit, but more often in place of sores are layers of acquired filth. Thus with as few rags as the law will permit and as much filth as they can live under these beggars crowd the market place, confront every class of visitors and expect To be paid for tn exhibition they present. There are also many other phases of life lmOng the lOwly commoIs sights every day, but for the sake of propriety and iecency are not spoken of.-MexicO Cor.